Lubricating device



Oct. 5, 1937. H. E. N. PRUVOT 2,094,930

LUBRICATING DEVICE Original Filed July 14, 1953 Fiel Patented Oct. 5, 1937 UNlTED STATES PATENT OFFHIE LUBRIC'ATING DEVICE Original application July 14, 1933, Serial No.

680,482. Divided and this application March 24, 1934, Serial No. 18, 1932 1 Claim.

The present invention has for its object a device for the lubrication of connecting rods or similar parts of machines and is a division of my copending application Ser. No. 680,482, filed 5 July 14, 1933.

This present device is characterized by the fact that it comprises the combination of a lubricator body having a chamber forming a reserve of oil, of a discharge nozzle which can, in certain cases, be combined with a valve, and of means controlled by the displacement of the part to be lubricated for periodically putting the oil inlet and the reserve of oil in communication with the nozzle, means being provided for supplying oil under pressure to the lubricator body.

The invention also relates to the following points applied separately or according to any combinations:

- (a) A calibrated piston is movable in the reserve of oil for allowing accumulation of oil under pressure in this reserve of oil.

(1)) A slide. valve, controls the. communication between the reserve of oil and the nozzle.

A slide valve is moved by a bell crank lever actuated by the member in motion.

(01) A slide valve is moved by the part to be lubricated, through the medium of a movement amplifying device, such as a pawl and ratchet device or the like, for ensuring periodical lubrication for a definite number of displacements of the part to be lubricated.

(e) The part to be lubricated is provided with a bowl receiving the injection when this bowl passes under the injection nozzle.

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic elevation of an improved lubricating device according to the invention as applied to the small end of a connecting rod of a locomotive.

40 Fig. 2 is an axial sectional elevation of the lubricating device the general assemblage of which is shown in Fig. 1.

The device illustrated by way of example only is used in case the bearing to be lubricated participates in a reciprocating rectilinear movement in an approximately horizontal plane (such as the small end of a connecting rod of a locomotive for instance).

The device employed is based on the following principle: the connection between the tube supplying oil under pressure and the part to be lubricated is done away with. The oil passes freely from one to the other at one of the dead centers of the stroke.

Synchronism is obtained as follows: Fig. 1

717,261. In France July is a diagram showing the application to a gudgeon pin of the small end of a connecting rod of a locomotive, I is the connecting rod, 2 is the gudgeon pin of'the small end of the connecting rod, 3 an oil cup which follows the gudgeon pin 2 in its rectilinear reciprocating move ment. A and B designate the dead centers of the stroke. 4 is the piping supplying oil coming from a mechanical lubricator (not shown), 5 is the apparatus for synchronizing the output. The function of this apparatus is to allow oil to flow only when 3 and consequently 2 pass under said apparatus.

Fig. 2 shows the detailed construction of the apparatus 5=-. The oil is admitted through the pipe I, which carries a cone 2 pressed, by a nut i, on a body 3. This body. carries a test screw 5, which, when it is loosened, allows oil to flow through the hole 6. The body is perforated with a channel containing a check Valve constituted by'a ball I pressed by the spring 8 held by the screw-threaded ring 9. The body 3 also carries a cylinder in in communication with the bore of the body, on the down side of the check' valve 1. In this cylinder H3 is arranged a piston ll terminated by a cup leather l2 clamped by a washer l3 and a nut I4. A cover l5 closes l and guides II. It is perforated at It for avoiding any back pressure above II, and at I! for avoiding back pressure above the cup leather l2 of the piston. A spring 18, giving a pressure of about kilograms per square centimeter, bears on H and [5.

A second body I9 is secured on body 3 by bolts 20. It encloses a valve 2! provided with a guide head which is perforated for allowing the passage of the lubricant. This valve rod extends outside the body l9 by passing through a plastic packing 23 held by a nut 24. Finally, the valve rod is provided, at its free end, with a mortise 25.

On the body I 9 is secured, by screwing, a tube 26 the axial channel of which opens in IS on the outlet side of the valve 2|. The member 21 is screwed in the member 26.

The member 21 carries, at its lower part, a small valve 28 pressed upon its seat by a spring 29 giving a pressure of 2 kilograms per square centimeter. The valve 28 can, in certain cases, be dispensed with. This spring 29 presses, on the other hand, on a shoulder of the member 21, and, on the other hand, on a washer 39 screwed and riveted at the end of the valve 28, which therefore can open only downwardly and constitutes a check valve preventing the oil conduits from being emptied, so that when the engine is at rest, the lubricator does not supply oil.

In the mortise 25 of the valve 2! extends the end of a bell crank lever 3! capable of rocking about a stud 32 secured to the member which serves as mechanical support for the bodies 3 and I9. The other end of the lever 35 carries a roller 33 movable about a stud 34. This roller is made of metal or of vulcanized fibre.

The lubricating cup 35 which usually (in particular on locomotives) moves with the pin of the small end of the connecting rod, without being subjected to any movement of rotation, is covered with a member 3% whichforms a funnel of rectilinear cross section of small width, about three centimeters, and of about twenty centimeters in length. The member 36 is se-' cured on 35 by bolts 31.

The upper longitudinal edges of the member 36 receive a member 38 acting as a cam on the roller 33 for displacing the same and thereby ensuring the operation of slide of valve 2 l The operation of the entire device is as follows:

lhe oil, admitted through I, lifts the ball I from its seat and passes to the cylinder it, forcing the piston H upwardly to enable the cylinder to take care of the volume supplied by the conventional oil pump (not shown). The oil cannot return through the conduit l, as it is prevented from doing so by the ball I. It is therefore maintained under pressure in the accumulator it. When the cup 35, carrying the members 36 and 33 comes near the dead center, B moving in the direction of the arrow, the cam 38 lifts the roller 33 and causes the member 3! to rotate about the stud 32 and the valve 2! opens. The oil under pressure at IG then passes in the conduits pro vided in 3, i9, 26, and 21 and opens the valve 28. The oil is projected into 3%, passes into 35, from which it proceeds to the point to be lubricated.

Then, the dead center being reached, 38 moves back, 2! closes and atmospheric pressure is reestablished above 28 which closes and. thus prevents emptying of the whole device by gravity.

Lubrication by projection is therefore efiected at each end of one of the strokes of the small end of the connecting rod, with a quantity of oil determined by adjustment of the output of the fixed mechanical lubricator feeding the apparatus above described. In other words, by using a conventional pump of the type in which the compressor piston does not perform its complete stroke at one and the same time, but several times according to a predetermined adjustment, each charge of oil accumulated in the cylinder I0 is fed theretofrom the source of supply in several impulses, the number of said impulses being determined by the rate of discharge of the charge from the cylinder l0. 7

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

In a device for lubricating a movable member from a fixed source of supply of lubricant, a body member having a cylinder, a conduit allowing said source of supply of lubricant to be placed in communication with the cylinder, a valve in said conduit permitting the admission of said lubricant to the cylinder but preventing the return of the lubricant to said source, a spring actuated piston in the cylinder, an injection nozzle permitting the lubricant to be fed to said movable member, a second conduit placing the cylinder in communication with the nozzle, a sliding valve member in said second conduit normally closing the latter to the passage of lubricant therethrough and adapted to be displaced by said movable member for momentarily establishing communication between the cylinder and the nozzle, whereby the accumulation of said lubricant in said cylinder is suddenly projected by said spring actuated piston through said nozzle to the member to be lubricated.

ELOI NORBERT PRUVOT. 

